WORK IN PROGRESS, PLEASE COMMENT WITH SUGGESTIONS AND QUESTIONS FOR THE DECK AND THE THREAD Hey there folks! This is Wacky Tasis' Worm Garden! Great utility lands along with a large amount of pest control to grow just about one of the best non combo control decks around. Just add politics!
But really guys this is my Tasigur lands/control list and it is built to be as powerfully controlling as possible, while still being fair, political, and fun. If you are looking for a Tasigur infinite mana everybody loses the game deck then this is the wrong list for you. There is not Tooth and Nail into Deadeye Navigator + palichron here. What we do have is hard, unrelenting control, backed up by land acceleration and graveyard manipulation, powered by politics, and finishing the game using Marit lage, Ormendahl, Profane Prophet, and a metric TON OF WORMS from Worm Harvest.
Also, Tasigur can beat in for game too.
So the name of the game is Control.
Some people like control magic and some don't. If you don't, then I don't know why you are reading this list. But if you do then Sultai is almost the perfect colors. I say almost because white for sure has much better removal than green. So why not run Oloro, Ageless Ascetic or another Esper commander for control? 2 reasons.
1: No Esper commander can give you the political aspect and card advantage that Tasigur alone provides, while also enabling and abusing the amazing resource known as the graveyard.
And 2: Lands. Green offers Life from the Loam and all of the best creature based mana ramp. Control decks want mana. A lot of mana. What's better than dropping 4 lands per turn? I guess getting into a winning position then casting Armageddon... But that's no fun!
But the main reason for Tasigur is that he offers some politics that almost no other commander can offer. It feels great to stare down someone casting Avenger of Zendikar with a Purphoros, God of the Forge on the field and asking another opponent "Hey, can I get a counterspell from my grave?" Because you are gonna get it. And that truly adds a fun aspect that for me just can't be beat.
You might like this list if you
Like having answers to problems in the field
Like to appear non threatening until the late game
Love abusing lands
Love abusing the graveyard
Enjoy abusing the political aspect of Commander
Enjoy playing fair magic
You may not like this list if you
Enjoy combo and winning as fast as possible
Want the best deck EVARRR
Think turning a few creatures sideways to win is boring
In depth card analysis and how to play the deck RAMP Exploration, Azusa, Lost but Seeking, Oracle of Mul Daya, and The Gitrog Monster. Putting down lots of lands is a key to this deck. Get way more mama than everybody else and you should be able to effectively control them. Especially useful with Crucible of Worlds. Special note on The Gitrog MonsterThis guy is an insane draw engine. Tasigur dumps lands, LFTL dumps lands, fetches cycle and other sac lands turn value into insanity with this guy.
Seedborn Muse: Control magic open on everybody's turn and tons of Tasigur activations. If only we still had Prophet of Kruphix.. RIP
GRAVEYARD
Intuition/Realms Uncharted/Entomb: These cards get your graveyard shenanigans started. Intuition basically searches any 3 cards for you to use. With so many utility lands Realms Uncharted is almost as good. Entomb is early game lftl tutor and late game whatever you want. Some intuition piles of note: Life from the Loam+Volrath's Stronghold/Haunted Fengraf+ any creature you want. Life from the Loam+ Academy Ruins/Buried Ruin+ any artifact you wantLife from the Loam+ Worm Harvest/Raven's Crime+ whatever else. Life from the Loam+ any 2 lands that work well together 3 Counterspells/removal spells/fog
Note there are many more piles to fit specific situations that may arise while playing.
Academy Ruins/Volrath's Stronghold: Consistent recursion that doesn't use opponents choice. That means if you really need to wrath soon you can grab Oblivion Stone. If you have to tutor a land grab Expedition Map. Desperately need a counter or removal grab Snapcaster Mage. Best used in conjunction with the cycle lands.
Haunted Fengraf/Buried Ruin: See above but faster. Note: The deck runs a really low creature count. It is rare that haunted fengraf will fail you if you only have one target in grave.
Snapcaster Mage: gives you a spell even if your opponents don't want you to have it. Recur for added value.
Crucible of Worlds: With all if the milling you will probably have some great lands in grave. Better yet, throw them there with Entomb, Intuition, or Realms Uncharted. Consistently hit land drops and never run out of steam.
Life from the Loam: Bread and butter. Consistently hit land drops, grab back cycle lands for top deck manipulators, 3 lands for retracing worm harvest, and refuels itself by milling cards. The list of interactions are just staggering. Straight up MVP.
Win Cons
Dark Depths: A 20/20 flying, indestructible is nothing to sneeze at. But being able to recur it over and over with lftl/crucible makes it straight up terrifying. best used with Thespian's Stage but can also just remove counters with tons of Cabal Coffers mana
Westvale Abbey: Newest land win con. 9/7 Flying, indestructible, lifelink, haste. Big beats and big life gain. Flips easily, just add worms!
Worm Harvest: I know we are getting lands from grave to field as fast as possible, but not fast enough to hurt this all star. Late game when opponents are controlled this thing makes 15-20+ worms a turn. More if you have many lands from lftl and mana from Coffers. And even more when combining all of that with Alchemist's Refuge and Seedborn Muse. Not uncommon to get 60+ worms in a single turn cycle. That ends games fast.
Tasigur, the Golden Fang: A 4/5 body with no evasion might not seem like much compared to the rest of the list, but you can never lose him for good. He is always there as a finisher no matter what. And his delve ability makes his high cost negligible. He can apply pressure at all points in the game reliably. Especially when strapped with a Sword of Feast and Famine, or given fear with Shizo, Death's Storehouse. Yepp, Tasi is your buddy who is always there for ya.
Other Cards of Note
Zur's Weirding: Seems like an odd card, right? They get to stop you from drawing? The thing is, you only run a couple of threats in the deck. The rest is relatively low impact control. They are going to be concentrating on another guy drawing a Blightsteel Colossus or a Tooth and Nail before they care about you drawing a counter or a piece of removal. And the best part is, most of the time you don't have to pay life because another player will do it first. The other best part? If they do pay life for your stuff, you can almost always get it back. Overall this card has prevented more cards from being cast by an opponent than any other counter spell can.
Training Grounds Solid card, reduces the cost to activate Tasigur to UG/UG. That's low low.
Alchemist's Refuge: Flash on a land is suuuuper strong. Tutorable and abusable Leyline of Anticipation. In the neat little packaging of a land.
Glacial Chasm: Best fog ever! With all of the extra land drops you aren't losing any value by saccing and playing it every turn. 100% WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE.
Expedition Map: Best tutor for any and all of these lands. Why is it the best? Because it can tutor Academy Ruins and from there you have any land in your deck as many times as you want. Ultimate utility in a lands deck. I have sac/searched for a cycle land then used Volrath's Stronghold to put Snapcaster Mage on top of my library, cycled, cast snapcaster, flashback Counterspell on a lethal Exsanguinate. No end to utility plays this deck offers.
Omitted for Budget The Tabernacle at Pendrel Veil: This card is amazing for this deck. We don't play a lot of creatures, but other decks do. until worm harvest gets online this effect is negligible for us but can be absolutely backbreaking for others.
Mana Drain: Big brother to Counterspell. This card is nuts, 2 mana unconditional counter that nets you mana. What was wizards thinking with this? Unfortunately I cannot afford it for my list but if you can then run it for sure.
Well that's the gist of it. The rest is just the lowest cost, best, and favorite control cards I could jam in the remaining space. It's a whole lot of fun to play, and seems fair enough.
Hey - I realize I'm doing some hardcore necro here, but I hope the community doesn't mind, as I've just starting a deck like this with Tasigur as well.
It looks remarkably similar to your list, TheMasteriestBiomancer, though with a little more emphasis on lands and a little less control (though this may change after testing).
I play in a mixed meta where some frown on combo decks and others embrace them. I have a few combo decks and wasn't interested in that approach at all. It's nice to have a non-combo deck to sit down with when I'm with the faction of my meta that prefers not to play with combo. I started playing non-combo, land matters, grindy rock-style Gitrog, and I was having fun with it! But I missed having blue and being able to interact with stack on the level that blue allows. Tasigur seems like a natural fit, as he plays the control game well, while still benefiting from the grindy, rock-style play I was loving in Gitrog so much.
Have you made any changes or updates to this list? If you're going the land matters / value route and are avoiding the obvious infinite mana combos that tasigur can pull off, might I suggest Holistic Wisdom. Not only does this card have beautiful Rebecca Guay art (that looks ah-mazing in foil), it just plays so well with the grindy, attrition playstyle that I enjoy and it helps dodge gaveyard removal for certain key lands I don't want exiled.
A fan of your deck, glad to see someone taking a similar approach and would love to hear more regarding your experience with it.
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Hey there folks! This is Wacky Tasis' Worm Garden! Great utility lands along with a large amount of pest control to grow just about one of the best non combo control decks around. Just add politics!
But really guys this is my Tasigur lands/control list and it is built to be as powerfully controlling as possible, while still being fair, political, and fun. If you are looking for a Tasigur infinite mana everybody loses the game deck then this is the wrong list for you. There is not Tooth and Nail into Deadeye Navigator + palichron here. What we do have is hard, unrelenting control, backed up by land acceleration and graveyard manipulation, powered by politics, and finishing the game using Marit lage, Ormendahl, Profane Prophet, and a metric TON OF WORMS from Worm Harvest.
Also, Tasigur can beat in for game too.
So the name of the game is Control.
Some people like control magic and some don't. If you don't, then I don't know why you are reading this list. But if you do then Sultai is almost the perfect colors. I say almost because white for sure has much better removal than green. So why not run Oloro, Ageless Ascetic or another Esper commander for control? 2 reasons.
1: No Esper commander can give you the political aspect and card advantage that Tasigur alone provides, while also enabling and abusing the amazing resource known as the graveyard.
And 2: Lands. Green offers Life from the Loam and all of the best creature based mana ramp. Control decks want mana. A lot of mana. What's better than dropping 4 lands per turn? I guess getting into a winning position then casting Armageddon... But that's no fun!
But the main reason for Tasigur is that he offers some politics that almost no other commander can offer. It feels great to stare down someone casting Avenger of Zendikar with a Purphoros, God of the Forge on the field and asking another opponent "Hey, can I get a counterspell from my grave?" Because you are gonna get it. And that truly adds a fun aspect that for me just can't be beat.
You might like this list if you
You may not like this list if you
So anyway, here is the deck list
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Win Cons
1 Westvale Abbey
1 Worm Harvest
1 Dark Depths
Ramp (9)
1 Exploration
1 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
1 The Gitrog Monster
1 Oracle of Mul Daya
1 Splendid Reclamation
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Life From the Loam
1 Seedborn Muse
1 Training Grounds
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
Board Wipes (6)
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Damnation
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Bane of Progress
Tutors (7)
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Intuition
1 Entomb
1 Expedition Map
1 Realms Uncharted
1 Tolaria West
Counters (13)
1 Stubborn Denial
1 Swan Song
1 Counterspell
1 Arcane Denial
1 Negate
1 Memory Lapse
1 Delay
1 Trickbind
1 Deprive
1 Voidslime
1 Disdainful stroke
1 Forbid
1 Zur's Weirding
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Unsubstantiate
1 Rapid Hybridization
1 Deglamer
1 Unravel the Æther
1 Reality Shift
1 Curse of the Swine
1 Beast Within
1 Sultai Charm
1 Krosan Grip
1 Putrefy
1 Silence the Believers
1 Blighted Fen
Fogs (3)
1 Constant Mists
1 Moment's Peace
1 Glacial Chasm
More Good Stuff (3)
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Isochron Scepter
1 Raven's Crime
Lands (42)
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Cabal Coffers
1 Thespian's Stage
1 Academy Ruins
1 Alchemist's Refuge
1 Barren Moore
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Breeding Pool
1 Buried Ruin
1 Cephalid Coliseum
1 City of Brass
1 Command Tower
1 Drowned Catacombs
1 Flooded Strand
1 Forbidden Orchard
4 Forest
1 Haunted Fengraf
1 Hinterland Harbor
3 Island
1 Llanowar Wastes
1 Lonely Sandbar
1 Mana Confluence
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Polluted Delta
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
1 Strip mine
1 Tranquil Thicket
1 Underground River
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Watery Grave
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Woodland Cemetery
1 Yavimaya Coast
1 Yavimaya Hollow
In depth card analysis and how to play the deck
RAMP
Exploration, Azusa, Lost but Seeking, Oracle of Mul Daya, and The Gitrog Monster. Putting down lots of lands is a key to this deck. Get way more mama than everybody else and you should be able to effectively control them. Especially useful with Crucible of Worlds. Special note on The Gitrog MonsterThis guy is an insane draw engine. Tasigur dumps lands, LFTL dumps lands, fetches cycle and other sac lands turn value into insanity with this guy.
Seedborn Muse: Control magic open on everybody's turn and tons of Tasigur activations. If only we still had Prophet of Kruphix.. RIP
GRAVEYARD
Intuition/Realms Uncharted/Entomb: These cards get your graveyard shenanigans started. Intuition basically searches any 3 cards for you to use. With so many utility lands Realms Uncharted is almost as good. Entomb is early game lftl tutor and late game whatever you want. Some intuition piles of note: Life from the Loam+Volrath's Stronghold/Haunted Fengraf+ any creature you want. Life from the Loam+ Academy Ruins/Buried Ruin+ any artifact you wantLife from the Loam+ Worm Harvest/Raven's Crime+ whatever else. Life from the Loam+ any 2 lands that work well together 3 Counterspells/removal spells/fog
Note there are many more piles to fit specific situations that may arise while playing.
Academy Ruins/Volrath's Stronghold: Consistent recursion that doesn't use opponents choice. That means if you really need to wrath soon you can grab Oblivion Stone. If you have to tutor a land grab Expedition Map. Desperately need a counter or removal grab Snapcaster Mage. Best used in conjunction with the cycle lands.
Haunted Fengraf/Buried Ruin: See above but faster. Note: The deck runs a really low creature count. It is rare that haunted fengraf will fail you if you only have one target in grave.
Snapcaster Mage: gives you a spell even if your opponents don't want you to have it. Recur for added value.
Crucible of Worlds: With all if the milling you will probably have some great lands in grave. Better yet, throw them there with Entomb, Intuition, or Realms Uncharted. Consistently hit land drops and never run out of steam.
Life from the Loam: Bread and butter. Consistently hit land drops, grab back cycle lands for top deck manipulators, 3 lands for retracing worm harvest, and refuels itself by milling cards. The list of interactions are just staggering. Straight up MVP.
Win Cons
Dark Depths: A 20/20 flying, indestructible is nothing to sneeze at. But being able to recur it over and over with lftl/crucible makes it straight up terrifying. best used with Thespian's Stage but can also just remove counters with tons of Cabal Coffers mana
Westvale Abbey: Newest land win con. 9/7 Flying, indestructible, lifelink, haste. Big beats and big life gain. Flips easily, just add worms!
Worm Harvest: I know we are getting lands from grave to field as fast as possible, but not fast enough to hurt this all star. Late game when opponents are controlled this thing makes 15-20+ worms a turn. More if you have many lands from lftl and mana from Coffers. And even more when combining all of that with Alchemist's Refuge and Seedborn Muse. Not uncommon to get 60+ worms in a single turn cycle. That ends games fast.
Tasigur, the Golden Fang: A 4/5 body with no evasion might not seem like much compared to the rest of the list, but you can never lose him for good. He is always there as a finisher no matter what. And his delve ability makes his high cost negligible. He can apply pressure at all points in the game reliably. Especially when strapped with a Sword of Feast and Famine, or given fear with Shizo, Death's Storehouse. Yepp, Tasi is your buddy who is always there for ya.
Other Cards of Note
Zur's Weirding: Seems like an odd card, right? They get to stop you from drawing? The thing is, you only run a couple of threats in the deck. The rest is relatively low impact control. They are going to be concentrating on another guy drawing a Blightsteel Colossus or a Tooth and Nail before they care about you drawing a counter or a piece of removal. And the best part is, most of the time you don't have to pay life because another player will do it first. The other best part? If they do pay life for your stuff, you can almost always get it back. Overall this card has prevented more cards from being cast by an opponent than any other counter spell can.
Training Grounds Solid card, reduces the cost to activate Tasigur to UG/UG. That's low low.
barren moore/Lonely Sandbar/Tranquil Thicket: Lftl all stars and top deck manipulator helpers. These cards are so crazy in a deck that can abuse them.
Alchemist's Refuge: Flash on a land is suuuuper strong. Tutorable and abusable Leyline of Anticipation. In the neat little packaging of a land.
Glacial Chasm: Best fog ever! With all of the extra land drops you aren't losing any value by saccing and playing it every turn. 100% WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE.
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth +Cabal Coffers You know it, you love it, and this deck does it way too well.
Thespian's Stage: Copy Cabal coffers for way too much mana, or copy Dark Depths to get a 20/20 beater for 2 mana. Your choice, either one is right.
Expedition Map: Best tutor for any and all of these lands. Why is it the best? Because it can tutor Academy Ruins and from there you have any land in your deck as many times as you want. Ultimate utility in a lands deck. I have sac/searched for a cycle land then used Volrath's Stronghold to put Snapcaster Mage on top of my library, cycled, cast snapcaster, flashback Counterspell on a lethal Exsanguinate. No end to utility plays this deck offers.
Omitted for Budget
The Tabernacle at Pendrel Veil: This card is amazing for this deck. We don't play a lot of creatures, but other decks do. until worm harvest gets online this effect is negligible for us but can be absolutely backbreaking for others.
Mana Drain: Big brother to Counterspell. This card is nuts, 2 mana unconditional counter that nets you mana. What was wizards thinking with this? Unfortunately I cannot afford it for my list but if you can then run it for sure.
Underground Sea, Bayou, Tropical Island: Easily fetchable with no drawbacks. No reason not to run them except for money.
Well that's the gist of it. The rest is just the lowest cost, best, and favorite control cards I could jam in the remaining space. It's a whole lot of fun to play, and seems fair enough.
It looks remarkably similar to your list, TheMasteriestBiomancer, though with a little more emphasis on lands and a little less control (though this may change after testing).
I play in a mixed meta where some frown on combo decks and others embrace them. I have a few combo decks and wasn't interested in that approach at all. It's nice to have a non-combo deck to sit down with when I'm with the faction of my meta that prefers not to play with combo. I started playing non-combo, land matters, grindy rock-style Gitrog, and I was having fun with it! But I missed having blue and being able to interact with stack on the level that blue allows. Tasigur seems like a natural fit, as he plays the control game well, while still benefiting from the grindy, rock-style play I was loving in Gitrog so much.
Have you made any changes or updates to this list? If you're going the land matters / value route and are avoiding the obvious infinite mana combos that tasigur can pull off, might I suggest Holistic Wisdom. Not only does this card have beautiful Rebecca Guay art (that looks ah-mazing in foil), it just plays so well with the grindy, attrition playstyle that I enjoy and it helps dodge gaveyard removal for certain key lands I don't want exiled.
A fan of your deck, glad to see someone taking a similar approach and would love to hear more regarding your experience with it.